Adding-machine.



F. C. RINSCHE.

ADDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUGIIBI 1913.

1,270,870. Patented July 2,1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Patented July 2, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2- was PEY n wASHmcmH. n. c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK C. RINSCH E, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO BURROUGHS ADDING MACHINE COMPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

ADDING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 2, 1918.

Application filed August 18, 1913. $eria1 No. 785,376.

17 ball whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, FRANK O. RINsoHE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of W. yne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Adding-Machines, of which the following is a specification. This invention relates to the type of adding machines shown in prior Patents Nos. 1,016,501 and 1,023,168 issued February 6, 1912, and April 16, 1912, respectively. In

these machines the turning of wheels to offeet registration is done by return of springactuated levers after displacement thereof by depressible keys and release of the latter. The keys are arranged in rows each row made up of nine keys numbered from 1 to 9 and constructed and arranged to act upon the associated registering lever at'varying distances from its pivot, the 9- key acting nearest the pivot, the 8-key a step farther away and so on. Upon reference to said prior patents it will be observed that the acting lugs of the keys are not normally in engagement with the lever, the latter being stopped in its return movement by contact of its forward end with across bar, and it will further be observed that the lugs of the lower denomination keys 1 and 2 are spaced farther from the lever than the lugs of other keys. This is so because of apurpos'e to arrange for uniform dip or extent of depression of all of the keys while at the same time preserving a compact arrangement of the keys with their tops spaced slightly and uniformly from each other from front to rear. The keysare normally upheld by comparatively light springs and it has been found that, owing to the relatively slight resistance to depression of the lower denomination keys prior to their striking the lever, there may be a failure to fully depress these keys against the considerably greater resist ance offered by the relatively strong spring which upholds the lever. The lost motion between the lugs of the other keys and the lever is so slight that the variation in resistance to their depression does not have to be taken into account, the extent of their depression against the lighter resistance being extent of depression against the light res 1stance is of such extent as to be distinctly noticeable so that there is an inclination to relax the pressure when the heavier resistance is encountered.

The purpose of the present invention is to compensate for this greater extent of movement of the lower denomination keys against the light resistance so that there will be no noticeable increase in resistance such'as to incline the operator to relax the finger pressure and to accomplish this without adding any weight to the registering lever, and in fact without attaching any parts to that lever, so that its action is not affected at all.

In the form of embodiment of my invention here shown I depart from the arrangement of increased spacing of the lugs of the lower denomination keys from the'registering lever and do not have lugs upon the key stems of these keys but upon separate'pieces between which and the keys there is lost motion corresponding in extent with'that heretofore allowed between the lugs and the lever.

In the drawings which accompany and form part of this specification Figure 1 represents in sectionalized right-side elevation a machine of the type shown in said prior patents, having incorporated therein parts for carrying out my invention; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the l-key depressed; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of this key detached; Fig. 4 is a similar view of the key turned over and with the lug-bearing piece left off and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the key complete in reversed position as compared and the reference letter F designates a registering lever associated with the keys and normally upheld by a relatively strong spring F with the front end of the lever against a frame cross rod a as illustrated in Fig; 1. (Z designates lugs struck out from the stems of the seven keys counting from these keys as in the prior constructions.

There is mounted against one side of each of these key stems 10 a slide plate 11 (Fig. 5) slotted at 11 to accommodate the cross rod a, the slot being elongated to provide for longitudinal movement of this plate upon the key stem. The plate has an additional slot 11 .for the same purpose and is held against the key stem by headed rivets 1O fastened in the key stem and engaging the slots respectively as'clearly shown in Fig. 5. At the lower end of the plate a lug 11 is struck out and extends past the front end of the key stem and over the registering lever F. A

spring 12 connects an ear 11 of said plate with an ear 10 of the key stem and this spring normally pulls the plate down so that the 'upper, end. of the slot 11 is engaged with the upper one of the headed studs 10".

Normally the lugs 11 are closely adjacent the upper edge of the lever F (Fig. 1) so that there is no appreciable lost motion between the lugs and the lever. However, there is lost motion between the key stems and the slide pieces so that the keys may be depressed a distance without displacing the .registering lever F. This corresponds with the distance through which these lower denominationkeys would be depressed in the .prior constructions before their lugs would encounter the upper edge of the lever F. In the present instance there is added to the resistance offered by the springs d to the depression of the keys, the resistance offered by the springs 12. It will of course be understood that the latter springs are inferior to the springs F which uphold the registering levers. Therefore upon depression of one of these lower denomination keys the lever F will not yield at first but the spring '12 will be stretched while the lug 11 stands in contact with the upper edge of the lever F and the upper stud 10" is traversing the slot 11". When said stud reaches the lower end of said slot the continued finger pressure afiects the slide piece just as though it had become integral with the key stem, and the lug 11 then depresses the lever F as illustrated in Fig. 2.

While necessarily the spring 12 is inferior to the spring F yet the combined resistance of the spring 12 and the spring (Z to depression of the key approximates the resistance offered by the spring F to the continued depression of the key, so that there is no noticeable increase in resistance when the lever F begins to be displaced and therefore the operator has no inclination to relax finger pressure and fail to fully depress the key. Of course when the key stem has taken up the lost motion between it and the slide piece there is no further stretching of the spring 12 and consequently the resistance to the continued depression of the key when displacing the leverF is the same as in the prior construction, to wit, that oliered by the spring F and the slight resistance ofiered by the spring 03. I

It is to be noted that in accomplishing the above result I avoid mounting any parts upon the registering lever and I thus gain the advantage of not increasing the weight of the lever or resistance to the action of the spring F There are also advantages in convenience of assembling, by having all of the compensating mechanism a part of the key structure. In these respects the invention is to be distinguished from the prior inventions of Roy L. Burd (application No. 783,701 filed August 8, 1913) and Walter J. Pasinski (application N o. 7 83,7 03 filed August 8, 1913).

While the above-described construction is well adapted to carry out my object, I wish it understood that my invention is susceptible of embodiment in other forms than that here shown.

I claim: 1. In a machine of the class described the 01": keys constructed and arranged to act upon said lever at increasing distances from thetances; and compensating means applied directly to the said certain key or keys only whereby to create substantially uniform resistance to their depression though displacement of the lever by such keys is less proportionately to the extent of their depression than is displacement of said lever by other keys proportionate to similar extent of depression of the latter, such other keys acting independently of said compensating means.

2. In a machine of the class described the combination of a registering lever; a series of keys constructed and arranged to act upon said lever at increasing distances from the latters pivot and with lost motion as to certain of said keys which act at the greater distances; and spring-held lost-motion contact pieces moimted upon certain of the keys which act at the greater distances, substantially as and for the purpose described. 1

3. In a machine of the class described, the keys which act at the greater distances, subcoinblnation of a registering lever, a serles stantially as and for the purpose described.

of keys constructed and arranged to act upon FRANK C. RINSCHE. said lever at increasing distances from its \Vitnesses:

5 pivot; and spring-held lost-motion contact R. W. FAIROHILD, pieces slidably mounted upon certain of the R. S. MIELERT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

